Golden, Risch Lead Bipartisan Effort to Level the Playing Field for Family Businesses in Forest Products Industry

WASHINGTON — To help family logging businesses address workforce shortages in the forest products industry, Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) and Senator Jim Risch (R-ID), joined by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Senator Angus King (I-ME), and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (ME-01), led a bipartisan group of 16 members of Congress today calling on the Department of Labor (DOL) to take action. The members urged DOL to grant a regulatory exemption that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to learn the logging trade under parental supervision.

"The forest products industry is an economic driver that provides good-paying jobs in many rural communities across the country," the members of Congress wrote. "Much like farming and ranching, the timber harvesting profession is often a family run business where the practice and techniques of harvesting and transporting forest products from the forest to receiving mills is passed down from one generation to the next. Unfortunately, young men and women in families who own and operate timber harvesting companies are denied the opportunity to work and learn the family trade until the age of eighteen."

The changes requested in the members' letter mirror those proposed in the Future Logging Careers Act, which would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 so that 16- and 17-year-olds are allowed to work in certain logging operations under parental supervision. The legislation was introduced by Sens. Risch and King as S. 818 in the Senate and by Reps. Golden and Glenn Thompson (PA-15) as H.R. 1785 in the House. Sen. Collins, Rep. Pingree, and the other members who signed the letter signed on as cosponsors of the legislation.

"The economic vitality of our nation's forest products industry is essential not only to these local communities and regions but also to the nation's manufacturing base," continued the lawmakers. "That is why we introduced the bipartisan and bicameralFuture in Logging Careers Act. Absent congressional action, we encourage the DOL to consider granting an exemption to allow sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds to work in mechanized logging operations..."

"Timber harvesting in Maine is a legacy industry consisting of family-based businesses that have been passed down from generation to generation which hire thousands of Mainers and contribute more than $880 million annually to the Maine economy," said Dana Doran, Executive Director of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine. "The Future Logging Careers Act, as well as this recommendation to the US Department of Labor, will ensure that these family based businesses in the State of Maine can sustain themselves for the long term and remain a strong part of Maine's economy. Congressman Golden, Senator Collins, Senator King and Congresswoman Pingree should be applauded for their leadership on this issue because without common-sense regulatory reform like this, the future of this industry will continue to be at risk."

The farming and ranching industry already enjoy a similar exemption. Such a change would help address the workforce shortage in the logging industry and help to prepare young Americans for careers in timber harvesting. Logging is complicated and technical work that demands training and experience that many colleges do not offer. Forcing family members to wait until the age of eighteen to begin the intensive on-the-ground training that logging demands denies many small family businesses the help they need, and many aspiring young loggers critical professional experience.

A copy of the letter can be found here.